COMMENT
OH, how the mighty have fallen!
Gavin Hunt’s SuperSport United sitting at the bottom of the table is not a familiar sight. I had to do a double take the other day, thinking my eyes were deceiving me when I spotted Matsatsantsa a Pitori in 15th place on the 16-team Betway Premiership table.
This is not how it’s supposed to be — particularly not this season, which had many of us proclaiming that this would be the campaign in which the three-time league champions return to their former glory and challenge for the title.
For one, SuperSport were not going to suffer ‘the distraction’ of continental football as they did last season. Add to that the fact that they had strengthened their squad with renowned players — such as Vincent Pule, Pogisho Sanoka, Tashreeq Morris, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel — and you had good reason to expect Hunt and his team to be trading punches with the likes of Mamelodi Sundowns, Orlando Pirates, and Stellenbosch FC.
That, however, has not happened, largely because these signings have not had the positive impact expected of them — a few of them being underwhelming, really. Instead, SuperSport are having such a wretched season that they have scored a mere 12 goals in 21 matches while conceding a massive 22. Only Royal AM have scored fewer — 10 goals — but in just 11 matches, as the KwaZulu-Natal side were suspended from playing due to administrative issues.
Not even the injection of seasoned campaigners such as Samir Nurkovic, Lebohang Maboe and Christian Saile during the January transfer window has helped turn things around, as Hunt’s team continue to huff and puff, eventually finding themselves in unfamiliar territory as the season reaches its home straight.
But why do SuperSport find themselves in this situation?
Why is a club renowned for its ability to compete with the best — its shrewd business in the transfer market and an established championship-winning coach at the helm — now staring relegation in the face?
SuperSport have been so poor this season that they fully deserve the position they find themselves in. When you win just one of your last 10 matches, you cannot have qualms about being bottom of the table, can you?
A team that loses to rookies like Magesi FC, as SuperSport did, cannot expect to be high up the table.
⚽️ Vincent Pule.
— Mazola J. Molefe (@superjourno) August 3, 2024
Dream debut - but he doesn’t celebrate. pic.twitter.com/a4Hz4qqpRa
Hunt, as coaches are wont to do, has explained away their poor form this year — the four-time championship-winning coach lamenting injuries to key players in pre-season and the club’s selling policy as reasons for their failings.
Granted, when Bradley Grobler suffered a nasty facial injury that kept him out for most of the season, the club was seriously hamstrung. Tyson Hlatshwayo and Grant Margeman are influential players, without whom SuperSport were always going to struggle. And then there was young Ime Okon leaving for a two-week trial in Europe, creating a gaping hole in the heart of the defence.
Sadly, the new signings made at the start of the season simply did not measure up, and the gaps left by the aforementioned players were felt dearly.
The reality, though, is that the club has let itself down, and this season is a reflection not only of Hunt but also of where the club currently stands. One of the things SuperSport once did exceptionally well was signing free agents. They built formidable teams by acquiring players who were out of contract and conducting smart business, but now they are struggling with that.
SuperSport have long been a selling club, grooming players in their development system and, once they gained enough senior team experience, selling them — think the likes of Ronwen Williams, Teboho Mokoena, and Chandre Campbell. But what they have done wrong this time around is failing to replace key departures with ready-made alternatives, instead relying on a young team of untested players.
And then there is the question of Hunt’s passion.
Granted, he claims he still has it — telling me in an interview ahead of his 1 000th match in the elite league that he remains the first to arrive at training and is still driven to succeed. Yet, the reality is that he is no longer as fierce as he used to be. Defeats no longer seem to grind him down as they once did.
Back then, Hunt would be super grumpy after a loss, hardly coherent, and often giving one-word responses to cut press conferences short. Now, he tries to rationalise even the worst of his team’s performances, his trademark line this season being, “We created enough chances to win the match” — even after being thrashed 4-0 by Kaizer Chiefs in Polokwane.
Of course, he is clearly unhappy with the direction the club has taken, and the loss of Tashreeq Morris to Chiefs, for example, did not sit well with him.
But with owners MultiChoice going through serious financial challenges, it was always going to filter down to the club. And if selling a Campbell, a Morris, or even an Okon helps stabilise the situation, then it is a no-brainer that they would go that route — irrespective of the fact that Hunt still needed them at the club.
Is there a chance SuperSport could be relegated?
Of course. But it is highly unlikely.
They don’t actually have a bad squad — on paper, they have the quality players to turn things around. Also, such is the inconsistency of clubs in the PSL that just one victory, combined with a few favourable results above them, could see SuperSport climb up to 10th place.
What happens after surviving this season, however, will be crucial. For one, they have an incredibly good academy system that will surely continue to produce young talent. It is up to them to keep that talent in the senior team long enough to build a formidable side capable of competing.
Do they stick with Hunt at the helm, or do they find a young, hungry coach eager to make a name for himself? I would argue that they should take the latter route — perhaps moving Hunt into a technical director role to guide the new coach they bring in.
Someone like Kwanele Kopo, for example, is SuperSport through and through and has previously worked with Hunt. Together, they could take the club back to the dizzying heights they once scaled.